Cornwall book discoveries

Obviously during my wee jaunt in Cornwall I checked out some book shops. The one which I liked the most was a cute little place called the St Ives Bookseller.
It was there that I bought my two latest book discoveries...

The Lonely Sea Dragon by Helen Dunmore.
This is the story of a sea dragon lost from his friends and family wallowing in a cave in Cornwall - until he is discovered by two young children who decide to befriend him.
I love the illustrations for this story - reminiscent of Quentin Blake, but a Quentin Blake living in St Ives! The actual illustrator of this book is a lady named Rebecca Cobb.

I particularly enjoy Cobb's way of illustrating large landscape scenes - such as her fun portrayal of the rocky coves/cliffs at St Ives.

You can see more of Rebecca Cobb's work at her website HERE. Its awesome.

The Mousehole Cat by Antonia Barber.
The next book discovery isn't really a 'discovery' as I had been told about this story before by my boyfriend's family, but I liked the sound of the tale so much that I decided to buy the book!
Antonia Barber tells the story of a small village in Cornwall called Mousehole, and in this village lives a cat called 'Mowzer' and her pet, a fisherman called Tom. Its been a particularly harsh winter, with cruel storms barricading all the village's fishermen into the harbour, meaning no fish can be caught, meaning no food for the villagers - and its coming up to Christmas! So Mowzer and Tom try to save the village by braving the ferocious 'Storm Cat'.

Again, I love the illustrations to this story, and the general layout of them throughout the book. Each illustration demands a second look as you can see the amount of detail that went into them! I think these illustrations were done with colour pencil - but I'm not entirely certain!
The Mousehole Cat was illustrated by Nicola Bayley.

And one last un-booky (but still cool) thing to show off before I take my leave...

I bought this lovely canvas bag on a trip to Mousehole one day on our holiday! It really was a quaint little fishing village, and some of the shops there had cute merchandise relating to The Mousehole Cat story!
My canvas bag was produced by a lady called Melanie Chadwick, and I am very jealous of her! I wish I could live in Cornwall and draw lovely illustrations all day! Anyway, you can find Melanie's shop over HERE, (you'll find lots of lovely things there!) whilst you can find her portfolio over HERE.

Cornwall Drawings

Well it has been a while!
I've just come home from a lovely holiday down in the beautiful Cornwall. I attempted to do some sketching/painting whilst I was there, I'm not very confident when it comes to landscapes - I think due to my Year 4 teacher comparing my trees to lollipops. Tree-drawing skills shattered.
But I thought I'd give it a go! I used pencil, watercolours and watercolour pencils. (There are also a few continuous line drawings of my boyfriend in here - because continuous line drawings are fun!)

 

St. Michael's Mount - I added a dragon.

Continous line drawing of Andrew - its fun not to look at the paper while you draw.

A beach at St. Ives. (I liked St. Ives).

The lighthouse at Godrevy. Tried to paint a sunset very quickly, hence why my colours went a bit murky.

Trying to draw people at the beach. Didn't go too successfully.

A cliff at Prussia Cove. I kept forgetting which bit of craggy rock I'd just drawn.

A litte ramshackle house on the cliffs around Prussia Cove.

A more well-kept house at Prussia Cove.

Another continuous line drawing. I think this would have looked good if I hadn't misjudged the bottom half of the face.













I quite enjoyed drawing these landscapes. I know its not my forte, but it was nice to draw from life for a change. Plus Cornwall was quiet and polite, so you didn't get strangers staring or asking to see what you are drawing, which is nice.